As you can tell from my posts lately, I’m really excited for Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, is announcing his run for presidency in 2016. I think he is an excellent candidate that has been fighting for civil rights and working Americans since he’s been in office. He’s also dedicated to getting money (and thus corruption by WallStreet) out of the political system.

He also favors a great deal of social programs that I believe the United States should have adopted years ago with regards to healthcare, infrastructure, and foreign trade.

As far as democratic voters who think,”He shouldn’t take votes away from Hillary” or “He’s only going to pull Hillary to the left” I think you are mistaken. Bernie can push Hillary completely out of the way – the guy knows his stuff and doesn’t rely on a huge campaign budget to connect to the working class.

To republican or conservative voters who believe he’s a “socialist” Bernie wouldn’t disagree with you. I just think that word has been perverted by media outlets into some ambiguous evil word when it couldn’t be further from the truth.

From a recent Rolling Stone article;

“When I first met Bernie Sanders, I’d just spent over a decade living in formerly communist Russia. The word “socialist” therefore had highly negative connotations for me, to the point where I didn’t even like to say it out loud.

But Bernie Sanders is not Bukharin or Trotsky. His concept of “Democratic Socialism” as I’ve come to understand it over the years is that an elected government should occasionally step in and offer an objection or two toward our progress to undisguised oligarchy. Or, as in the case of not giving tax breaks to companies who move factories overseas, our government should at least not finance the disappearance of the middle class.”

I encourage everyone, regardless of their political affiliation to have an open mind and consider that maybe investing in our own people and our own country is the smart thing to do. I believe we have a moral responsibility to take care of our citizens. We are not perfect, and we all make mistakes.